For New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton Jeff Petry Jersey Kids , the NHL trade deadline brought mixed emotions on Monday.Gorton said it was ”difficult” to trade captain Ryan McDonagh and forward J.T. Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Vladimir Namestnikov, two prospects and two draft picks.But the return, prospects Libor Hajek and Brett Howden, and Tampa Bay’s first-round pick in 2018 and a conditional first-round pick in 2019 are ”exciting” for a franchise in the midst of a rebuild.He made sure to stress, though, that this was simply the beginning.There’s a lot of work here,” Gorton said on a conference call. ”We’re trying to build a team. We’re adding these assets and doing all these things, but listen, there’s a lot of work to be done.”There’s a lot of players out there that we need to be watching, finding out what’s going on in the draft. There’s a lot of opportunity to grow as a team and make our team better. That’s our goal Jonathan Drouin Jersey , that’s our mission. I feel like we’re just starting.”New York has three first-round picks in June’s draft. The Rangers also have two second-round picks, two third-round picks, a fourth, a fifth and a sixth for a total of 10 picks.The deal continued the Rangers’ rebuilding process. They have acquired defenseman Rob O’Gara and a 2018 third-round draft pick from Boston for Nick Holden; prospect Yegor Rykov and a 2018 second-round draft pick from New Jersey for Michael Grabner; a 2018 first-round pick, a 2019 seventh-round pick, prospect Ryan Lindgren, Ryan Spooner and Matt Beleskey from Boston for Rick Nash; and now Namestnikov, Hajek and Howden.”You look at these opportunities when they come along and maybe we take advantage or get an opportunity because teams feel they can win and we can make these deals,” Gorton said.As the Rangers head to Western Canada for a three-game road trip against Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton http://www.officialcanadiensprostore.com/authentic-adidas-karl-alzner-jersey , they are 25th in the NHL with a 27-30-6 record and 60 points.Whereas New York is looking toward the organization’s future, Tampa Bay is bolstering its roster in an attempt to win the franchise’s second Stanley Cup.In acquiring McDonagh, the Lightning are acquiring a top-pairing defenseman who has one year left on a six-year, $28.2 million contract signed prior to the 2013-14 season. He joins a defensive group which includes Victor Hedman, rookie Mikhail Sergachev, and McDonagh’s former teammates in New York, Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman.Right wing Ryan Callahan, who also played with McDonagh with the Rangers from 2010 to 2014, is also a member of a Lightning team which leads the Eastern Conference with 87 points entering Monday night.McDonagh has 26 points (two goals and 24 assists) in 49 games this season, and 238 points (51 goals and 187 assists) in 516 regular-season games. He has 10 goals and 31 assists in 96 playoff games.”It’s a very difficult thing to do. It’s a player we view as a really special Ranger Jonathan Bernier Jersey Womens , he (was) the captain of our team. He (was) here for a lot of good times and played a lot of good hockey for us.”A special person off the ice. Involved off the ice in charities, and a great family. A player we traded for if you think back was sort of a time where things started to change in the right direction for us,” Gorton said of McDonagh.”Difficult, as you said. J.T. has been a good player for us, too. I wouldn’t want to undercut him.”Definitely emotional to see him go.”— TORONTO (AP) — Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews? Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid?With debate ramping up about which player sits atop hockey’s throne — after some remarkable early performances — Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock’s goes in a different direction — Sidney Crosby.“This is what I think,” Babcock began as he made his case for the Penguins captain before Pittsburgh’s 3-0 victory over Toronto on Thursday. “I think one guy’s got two Olympic gold medals and three Stanley Cups.”And the other guys?“They don’t.”McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers captain with blazing speed, has won back-to-back NHL scoring titles and the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. Matthews, the Maple Leafs’ deadly sniper, has the most points in the league Mike Reilly Jersey , 16 in just eight games.McDavid set an NHL record this week by becoming the only player to either score or assist on the first nine goals of his team’s season.Matthews has a lethal shot that often leaves a goalie looking up at the replay for a glimpse at a puck that just whizzed by him. He is just the fifth player to have seven straight multipoint games to start a season.Babcock is quick to acknowledge what these 21-year-old phenoms have done. But he says personal accolades matter only so much.Crosby is 31 and has been on top of the hockey world for the better part of the last decade. He won the Cup in 2009, 2016 and 2017 to go along with gold medals for Canada at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.Had it not been for the concussions that limited him to 63 of his team’s 164 games between 2010 and 2012, the two-time Hart and Conn Smythe Trophy winner might own even more hardware.Babcock coached Crosby at the Vancouver and Sochi Games, and again at the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, which Canada also won.“Team success in the end, that’s how you’re measured,” he said. “When you’ve been the best player on the best team, to me that’s totally different than being the best player on a team that’s not as good. As you’ve got people around you to raise your game and set a standard … to me, it’s not even close.”Mike Sullivan became Pittsburgh’s coach during the 2015-16 season and immediately grew to appreciate Crosby’s gifts.“Sid’s the most driven athlete I’ve ever been around,” he said. “Not only is he an elite player Womens Paul Byron Jersey , but he’s willing to put the work in to continue to try to be the best player he can be. … I have the privilege of watching him on a daily basis put the work in to be the player that he is.”Toronto center Nazem Kadri says it’s tough to pick among Crosby, McDavid and Matthews.“I still think Sid’s an incredible player and McDavid’s definitely up there,” he said. “(Matthews) is creeping up there. … To me, McDavid’s speed is just incredible and so hard to stop. You can’t necessarily make a mistake when he’s on the ice because when you’re beside him you’re going to be behind him.”Maple Leafs center John Tavares went head-to-head with Crosby for nine seasons while with the New York Islanders.“He doesn’t take anything for granted and his work ethic’s tremendous,” Tavares said. “He puts a lot of commitment into being the player that he is.”Crosby has five assists in six games this season playing on a line with Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust — the first time he’s gone without a goal this long. But Sullivan’s admiration is undiminished.“He leaves no stone unturned,” Sullivan said. “He takes care of himself physically. He trains so hard, both off the ice and on the ice. We learn as much from Sid as I think he does from our coaching staff with just the way he thinks the game.”